I got myself some pre-owned chess pieces that were bundled with CLAMP no Kiseki (CLAMPノキセキ, CLAMP’s miracle).
CLAMP no Kiseki is a 12 volume series of magazine feature books celebrating their 15 year anniversary. Japan version for each volume costs around 1600 Yen (approx. US$15) and you get 3 chess pieces but you get either 1 main character + 2 Mokona pawn pieces or 2 main characters + 1 Mokona pawn piece in each volume. English version published by Tokyopop costs around US$19.99~US$29.90. They are kind of expensive especially when I’m unsure of what quality the chibis will be, so I didn’t feel like forking out that kind of money for them.
The pre-owned pieces that were on sale do not make up a complete set and cost 5000 Yen (excl. shipping). So I thought maybe I’ll just get these first then complete the collection by buying the missing ones.
So, the chess pieces arrived today… Out of a total of 22 collectible character designs, I received 17 characters: 9 main characters for white, and 8 main characters for black…
Each soft-vinyl figure is about 4~5cm in height standing on a 2cm base. Well, I wasn’t expecting them to be in mint condition but most of the pieces still look pretty good. They look a little dusty but were wiped clean. That is not a big issue with me but Watanuki’s face has missing paint and his neck is in a really weak state o_O (my poor Watanuki), Kamui’s hair is stained with some specks of white paint but I think it should be possible to remove and Suu’s hair has black paint specks. Oh well… if I ever decide to sell my collections, trust me, everything will be in 99.9% -MINT- condition lol~
Anyway, here’s a list of what I got…
Vol 01. white Queen Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Vol 02. black Bishop Watanuki (XXXHOLiC), white Queen Yomoyo (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Vol 03. white Bishop Subaru (Tokyo Babylon)
Vol 04. white Rook Misaki Suzuhara (Angelic Layer), black Bishop Seishiro Sakurazuka (Tokyo Babylon)
Vol 05. black Rook Suu (Clover), black Knight Nokoru Imonoyama (CLAMP School Detectives)
Vol 06. white Knight Hikaru Shidou (Magic Knight Rayearth), black Rook Ashura (RG Veda)
Vol 07. white Rook Chii (Chobits), white Knight Akira Ijyuin (CLAMP School Detectives)
Vol 08. black King Kamui Shirou (X)
Vol 11. black Knight Kurogane (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE), white Bishop Konhaku (Wish)
3 x white Pawn Mokona-Modoki (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE)
3 x black Pawn Mokona-Modoki (XXXHOLiC)
Missing these:
Vol 09. black King Fuuma Monou (X), white Bishop Miyuki (Miyuki-chan in Wonderland)
Vol 10. black Queen Yuko (XXXHOLiC), black Bishop Fai (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE)
Vol 12. white King Syaoran (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE)
2 Limited (Tokuten-only) King chess pieces.
Although I’m not exactly thrilled with the condition of a few of them but you get what you pay for lol~ Fortunately most of the pieces are in good condition. I guess I can display these CLAMP Chibis without being paranoid about them getting dirty or dusty now… since they already are lol~ That’s the reason why I house my Lamento and Togainu Chibis in display boxes. NO ANNOYING DUST OR STAINS!
Rants aside, I’ll say the chibis are really cute and of quite good quality. I’ll definitely be getting the remaining ones hopefully during a sale or something :) In the end, I decided to keep them inside display boxes too. They just look better this way and it reduces their exposure to the elements haa~
Hmm~ I have to buy more display boxes, since the ones I usually buy are sold out… any good shops to suggest?
Update 18 July 2008:
There’s a listing on ebay that is selling the full set + tokuten as highlighted by ashura in the comments. The chess board is available in another listing and at JPQueen. So head over there if you’re interested :)
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i got my almost full set from the spanish edition =o
all magazines from 1 to 12, only figures missing are kero and spinel, cos those were from a special offer where u had to send tickets and stuff .-.
and yeah, they are pricey, but i think it’s worth it =D
@Shirokaze: yeah~ for fans its definitely worth it XD
Lol~ may the force be with you XD
That’s an amazing list of Star Wars RAH you have there… Are they on display or do you keep them in their boxes? I don’t have much space at home, so usually I’ll only take my RAH out for some photo shots and then put them right back :P
I have Darth Maul as well :D, also Darth Vader ROTS, Sandtrooper, Clonetrooper, Bob Fett, Jango Fett, Stormtrooper and the Dark Stormtrooper.
Yes… the dark side indeed…. lol
awesome~ :O Who do you have in your collection? Personally, I find Darth Maul the coolest RAH from the Star Wars serires. I may want to get him someday if he is still available.
Like I once heard someone say… the minute you buy your first figure, prepare to walk down the path to the dark side lol XD
lol, I am building up my Medicom Star Wars RAH and VCDs so I have no more $$$ to spend on the chess set.
Not to mention the Yamato Macross 1/60 models… *sigh~*
That’s true… I believe US$200~240 doesn’t cover the original cost of the set + shipping fees from Japan that the seller has to pay for. And the chess board on another ebay listing looks like an additional US$50 + shipping ^^” Anyway, I’ve added the links to the post in case it may help somebody who wants to get the complete set.
Gaaa~ I can buy both Light and L Medicom RAH with that kind of $ XD
No worries, I contacted the seller and he/she replied that the price can be negotiated.
A few people have tried to make an offer and he/she said that the price that was offered US$200-240 was laughable.
I guess those people wanted a bargain and not a collector’s set.
I might consider making an offer if there was a chess board included
Thanks for the info ashura~ it is pricey US$440!? o_O Yup, those king chess pieces are rare and only available for Japan versions :) Woo~ would be nice to have…
There is a complete set selling on ebay for those interested, a bit pricey though. It’s got 2 additional king chess pieces that came in a special display box
I loved RG Veda and the interesting references to the mythical gods. It was my first CLAMP series.
Tokyo Babylon was kinda heart-wrenching cos I loved Hokuto and Seishirou x Subaru as a couple. I also liked it cos of the onmyoji references. I was traumatised by X the Movie tho’ (How could they do that to Subaru x_x *dies*) and I couldn’t pick up the manga after that. So I’ve never read X manga even after I found out later that the endings for X Movie, manga and TV are all different. ^^” That was years ago. Although I bought the 24 episode X-TV DVDs during the last Christmas sale (probably cos of nostalgia?), I’ve only watched Episode 0: Prologue and stopped there. Cos it hinted at angst all the way. It was too depressing. I’m too stressed with work to deal with that. Also, the “best-friends-turned-enemies” scenario also felt a little tired. Maybe I’m getting a bit too jaded for it. Hmm… come to think of it, Code Geass has a similar scenario LOL~ It wasn’t written by CLAMP although they were engaged to do the character design. Maybe I’m being unfair to them since I’ve not finished watching/read the story. Anyway, during my fandom, I enjoyed their more light-hearted or shorter stories like CLAMP School detectives, Clover, Wish, etc.
I’ve not read the longer running series like Tsubasa and CCS due to time constraints. By that time they came out I was too busy to follow up. There are only that many hours in a day ^^” I also stopped obsessing over anime and manga during that period in my life. I watched only the 1st episode of Tsubasa anime a few months back. Linking the worlds that CLAMP has created together is an intriguing premise, although how the story began was kind of formulaic.
However, I find XXXHoLiC very interesting :) Stories with mythical and cultural influences always holds an attraction for me, so if I only have time for one series, Tsubasa or XXXHOLiC, I’ll watch the latter first.
$ is important ^^ I don’t fault CLAMP for that, really. We can learn from them! ;) Idealism I believe they had when they started… but now probably not so much an influence in their works.
Yeah, I may reshoot the Ouran chibis when the lighting conditions are better hehe ^^
Clamp truly burned hole in your wallet.
I’m not their fan, in my opnion stories such as Tsubasa or CCS are pretty boring. RG Veda is quite interesting but thankfully they ended up at volume 10.
Other works such as X, Tokyo babylon are very much related (just like you said) and seems pretty dull and flat.
In the end CLAMP has strong sense of business and able to create fanatism over their works (manga,comics, etc) and merchandises.
Of coz it’s their personal right to do tht but sometimes i just wonder does Clamp have their own idealistic side as others mangaka. It’s like sell, sell, sell and money, money. money.
Yep natural daylight is better..tried tht do couple of times. well, you still caught the details so it’s not a bad picture at all.
Okie, I just checked yesasia out. Some volumes are still available but I think they added shipping to the price of the item… I think I’ll get the US Tokyopop version from rightstuf probably during their promotions or Christmas sales… cos the discounts can get up to 33%~40% and I’m a rightstuf member so I may get an additional 10% discount :D That is if they are still available then heh.. Actually the chess pieces were not must-haves for me. If they were, I probably would’ve bought them a long time ago already. This was an impulse buy ^^”
I agree with you actually… CLAMP is shrewd when it comes to their business sense. They are really smart in many ways. They know what the market wants and they’re able to tailor their works to cater to it, without deviating too much about universal themes about friendship, love and loss that they like to explore. They always have a few series running concurrently with one another and if you’re a fan of one series, you’ll most likely want to read their other works while waiting for the next volume of the current one you’re following. The result? You end up having to follow up on everything! A fan won’t mind very much I guess but it is very straining on our pockets indeed.
I was really tempted to get Clamp in 3D Land series cos the chibis look cute! ^^ But I stopped myself from buying them because I was afraid I get hooked and have to hunt down everything. I know that when I’m obsessed, it is -very- scary. :P Loose boxes of Vol. 6 are already on sale in Japan now. Soon the complete Vol. 6 collection should be released? Hmm… I wonder if the 3D series will end at Vol. 10? Looking at the chibis’ design, I think the chess pieces and 3D Land series were sculpted by the same designer.
Thanks for the encouragement! ( ^_^)v I still need to practice more. Natural daylight is so much better! Since I don’t have a tripod and my camera is considered quite old technology (no image stabilizer lol~) This time, I switched on the flash to take advantage of the faster shutter speed but covered the flashlight partially to reduce the possible “over-exposure” and reflection. My Ouran chibis shots were taken in the evening with poor lighting, so the resulting shots were terrible :-\
YESASIA still have the boxes you’re missing.
at least check it out.
Don’t be offended, i think Clamp is seriously sucking all their fans money..this chibi chess figurines are cute and pretty decent but it’s definitely not something really important for me to have.
It’s expensive and errmmm…..i prefer to collect Clamp in 3D Land series rather than these chess figurines (with mostly contain Mokonas and Modokis)
Of course what you have is an impressive collection and even one of my japanese relative didn’t have this much (just a couple of boxes)
the pictures are quite nice. you’re getting good.